Saint Paul Almanac

The Mounds Theatre and Me

By Greg Cosimini, March 20, 2012

Mounds Theatre today (Photo: Pa Yong Xiong)

I’ve lived in Dayton’s Bluff just a few blocks from the Mounds Theatre all my life, but not for the whole life of the Mounds Theatre. It was built in 1922, and I was born twenty-nine years later. The Mounds started out as a silent movie house. It was billed as “The Pride of Dayton’s Bluff.” It had a small stage for vaudeville acts. Local musicians played in an orchestra pit. The first “talkie” was shown at the Mounds in late March 1929—on what would eventually become my birthday. The movie was My Man, starring Fannie Brice. The Mounds was remodeled in the 1930s, receiving air conditioning, an exterior ticket booth, and a fancy marquee.

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Filed Under: History, Memories, Places Tagged With: 1940s, Dayton’s Bluff, George Hardenbergh, Greg Cosimini, Highway 12, memories, Mounds Theatre, movies

Carnival

By Susan Solomon, January 31, 2012

I was a young Philadelphian, freshly divorced, and looking for a new city in which to start my new life. I was tired of rat-filled alleys and dirty heaps of black snow that lined the streets like piles of coal. At a library, I happened upon a travel magazine. And on those glossy, full-color pages, I spotted a picture of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival.

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Filed Under: Memories Tagged With: snow, Susan Solomon, winter carnival, Winter Carnival Ice Palace

Radio Crew

By Gayla Ellis, January 7, 2012

Ione’s cousin, Elaine, and Ione, dressed in her work coveralls. (Photo courtesy Gayla Ellis)

Although I live in Minneapolis, I have a strong connection to Saint Paul. When I worked as a legal secretary in downtown Saint Paul, I could see across the Mississippi from my twenty-second-floor window to where my mother, Ione, worked in 1943 during World War II: Holman Field. Born in Spicer, Minnesota, Ione moved to Minneapolis in her early twenties. During the war, she had a long commute from North Minneapolis to her job in Saint Paul: A bus took her to downtown Minneapolis, then a streetcar brought her to downtown Saint Paul, and a shuttle carried her across the Robert Street Bridge to the Northwest Airlines Modification Center, where she worked on a radio crew for the B-24 bomber plane known as the Liberator.

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Filed Under: Memories, People Tagged With: Fridley, Gayla Ellis, Holman Field, Mississippi, Northern Pacific Railway, Northwest Airlines, Robert Street Bridge, WWII

Share Your Memories of Deb Torraine

By the Saint Paul Almanac, October 23, 2011

Deborah Torraine volunteered for the Saint Paul Almanac as a community editor, hosted two Lowertown Reading Jam events, authored short stories for publication and, in February 2011, took on a new role as Director of Community Engagement. In June 2011, Deb tragically passed away, leaving behind bereaved friends and family, but leaving behind a community very aware that they were blessed to know her and deeply grateful for her gifts to them. In the comments section at the bottom of this page, please share your memories of our sister... Deb Torraine.

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Filed Under: Memories

Another Crossing

By Bill Cento, June 4, 2011

The Crowne Plaza Hotel at 11 East Kellogg Boulevard in downtown Saint Paul. (Photo: Dan Tilsnen)

Vera’s death was just last December, and I am missing her on this May evening, as our forty-third anniversary approaches. I need time and space by myself, to think. A view of the Mississippi River twisting and turning sharply, as I am right now, would set the tone. A drink and something good to eat would be nice—a martini, a very good steak, a favorite after-dinner drink.

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Filed Under: Memories Tagged With: Bars, Bill Cento, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Downtown, High Bridge, Kellogg Boulevard, minneapolis, Mississippi, Mississippi River, Wabasha Bridge

School Bus Bullies, Superheroes, and Why I Remember the Kitchen

By Adrian Schramm, May 31, 2011

(Photo: Rosa Say/Flickr Creative Commons)

They say every school has a bully. I don’t know if that’s true, but our school has a bully. A big, mean kid with a bowl cut and a scar running down his cheek. He rides my bus to and from school every day. Every day, the loud voice of the backseat tyrant is heard over all the others. Laughter is silenced with a flick of his wrist. His name is Joe. No last name, just Joe. On this warm afternoon in late May, Joe is picking on Andrew, calling him names, slapping him with the sharp metal edge of a ruler (a particularly nasty and popular weapon of bullies), pulling his hair. I say, “Cut it out,” and the bully’s eyes turn to me.

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Filed Under: Memories Tagged With: Adrian Schramm, Childhood, children, school

A Normal Wet Rainy Day in Saint Paul

By Frances Fuller, May 11, 2011

Rainy Downtown Saint Paul as seen from across Kellogg Bridge. (Photo: Punchup/Flickr Creative Commons)

I hold out my hand and feel the soft tapping of raindrops on my palm. They are cool and don’t seem to care where they end up. I take out my umbrella and hold it up so I don’t get wet. It is fall. The wind starts up, and I am glad I wore my sweatshirt and rain poncho. The rain starts coming down harder now, and my patrol flag flaps madly as if trying to escape my grasp.

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Filed Under: Memories Tagged With: Childhood, children, Fall, Frances Fuller, Kellogg Boulevard, Kellogg Bridge, rain